In endoscopy, apparatuses which come into contact with the patient or the sterile medical personnel must be kept sterile to avoid infections. Therefore, endoscopes are sterilized before use and camera heads and camera cables are provided with a non-reusable sterile covering made of plastic. Sterile adapter systems may be used for a secure separation between the sterile outside of such coverings and the non-sterile inside of such coverings. Sterile endoscopes connected to the camera head may thereby be exchanged quickly and comfortably without needing to interrupt the sterile barriers to the non-sterile camera head.
A sterile covering with optical window is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,221 A.
The connection of a camera head with a sterile endoscope via a special sterile intermediate adapter and a sterile covering of the camera head is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,230 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,045. A special sterile intermediate adapter with lead-throughs for exposure light is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,304A.
A camera adapter for stereo endoscopes is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,350.
An adapter for two-channel stereo endoscopes is known from EP 2563203 A4.
A special sterile intermediate adapter for stereo endoscopes is known from DE 9300529 U1.